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Running Runs in First Family
By JOE SHAFRAN
For the last year or so, I’ve been bemoaning the fact that we no longer have a first runner. President Bush gave up running for bike riding. However, it’s not a total loss. We now know that the Bush twins, Jenna and Barbara are runners. They ran the Monument Street 10 K in Richmond on Saturday ,April 1 and Dad would be proud of them. They both did it in 55 minutes which gives me an indication that they are into running . However, you won’t see their names as finishers. . The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that they ran under assumed names, with prior arrangement with the race people. The paper also said that the girls were in Richmond at the urging of some running friends. In addition, I heard a radio interview with a gossip columnist that one or both of the twins had a new hair do. Not necessarily inspired by the girl’s running, I stopped by the White House a week ago last Saturday, to see how one of those rubberized tracks does without anyone running on it and I must say it looks pretty good. And I was told this by the groundskeeper at the White House. Contrary to a rumor that floated around the past couple of years that Bush wouldn’t run on the Clinton track and had a new one installed. I got it straight from the man who cared for both tracks that wasn’t the case at all. He said the Clinton track, put down in the early nineties just started to disintegrate so a new one was put down about the time George W. Bush took over. I’ve run both the White House track and the rubberized outdoor track at the Naval Academy and I don’t find them any better than the streets around Annapolis. Washington was crowded the day I got the White House. Thousands were there to see the Cherry Blossoms that were at their peak at the nearby Tidal Basin and also thousands of runners were in town for the Sunday Cherry Blossom ten miler. It was a pleasure then the next morning to be at bucolic Edgewater for the Strider’s Cherry Pit ten miler. The winner of the local race was Navy Midshipman First Class, Wallace Miller, 21, who is also the President/Captain of the Naval Academy Marathon Club. His time was 58:03 First female was 12 year old Brittney Rooks at 1:07:34 . The indomitable Bill Law, 78, of Arnold , came in 292nd at 1:46.57 . and then there were the Walsers, the father and son duo of Lusby who run most area races and to whom I pay attention to see if age affects running . A couple of years ago, I do believe the father could beat the son. Lately, however, it’s been the other way around. Dave, 24, the son came in 26th overall at 1:05:48 and please excuse the reference , his “ old man”. Dave , 47, came in a not too shabby 81 at 1:14:47, still with a a couple hundred runners behind him.
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Once in while in this column I point up the unsung heros at a race other than the runners, the directors and the volunteers. Some time back, I mentioned Al Stott who with some helpers does the finish line timing at most races. And among the other unsungs, people who are vitally needed at every race, but hardly ever seen or heard , are the volunteer amateur “ham” radio operators who know what’s happening every step of the way on a race course . You can always spot “Houston Control” as I refer to it, at a race, usually under a tent on high ground next to a 50 foot antenna. Another telltale is the vanity license plates on their nearby cars showing their call letters. If you need a band aid for a blister at the five mile mark, go see a “ham”. They’ll see that one gets to you.
I have written before about the need for runners, hikers/walkers and others to wear an I.D tag. I’m pleased to report that the Anne Arundel County Department of Health thought it a good idea also and is offering a free specially designed wrist tag to people who sign up for their Family Fitness Challenge. Ruth Kershner and Rian Olman of the department describe the I.D. on the cable TV program Let’s Shape Up! that will be seen at 7:00 P:M, Thursday April 13th and at 7:30 P.M Saturday April 15th. It’s on channel 99 on Comcast cable in the County. It will also be on Channel 99 on Comcast Cable in Annapolis City at a later date to be announced. You can reach Ruth at 410-222-7010.
The details will be forthcoming, but I hear that the 6:06 running club in Annapolis is not going to let June 6th go by without doing something about it. It’s a Tuesday and you can run with them at 6:06 A.M. on 06/06/06.
Running Calendar:
April 19: Westminster, 7 p.m. Main Street 25th Annual Main Street Mile. Ice cream sundaes for all finishers.. Call 410-848- 8332
April 22: Quiet Waters Park, Annapolis, 8:30 a.m. The 12th annual Sierra Club 5K . Call Dave Prosten at 410-263-6341.
April 30: Glen Burnie. 9 a.m. 5K Run and I Mile Walk SDA Church, 508 Aquahart Road. Start at Church, then the B&A Trail. Call Jerry Scherer at 443-867-6658.
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